To date, 15,000 Rostov residents have used the services of the Financial Literacy Centre in Rostov-on-Don. This is a joint social and educational project by Center-invest Bank and Southern Federal University. Open to all, the Centre provides free advice and training for all groups of the population.

In January-February 2016 Center-invest Bank made 6422 new loans to business and retail customers in southern Russia, for a total of RUB15.2bn. Lending increased 2.3 times compared to the same period of last year.

Center-invest Bank has won the Internal Communications and Corporate Media category in the Silver Archer Awards (South) 2015. Our winning project was our new corporate theatre group, “Green Theatre”. Our entry was a clear favourite with the jury, and has attracted interest both regionally and nationally.

In 2015 Center-invest Bank was recognised as Russia’s best regional bank and one of the country’s top 3 retail banks. Dr Vasily Vysokov, chairman of the Board of Directors of Center-invest Bank, was Person of the Year according to the Expert Yug business magazine. In the Leader of the Year rating, published by the Gorod N. newspaper, Dr Vysokov took 3rd place for Business Reputation and 4th place for Successful Entrepreneur. Center-invest Bank was also one of the top 5 most successful companies in the Rostov region1.

Center-invest Bank was among the winners of the annual “Public Recognition” competition held by the Krasnodar Krai Public Chamber. Awards were presented to the twelve companies that had run the best social projects in Krasnodar Krai in 2015.

To mark the “Day of the Bank Worker” professional holiday, the Sravni.ru banking comparison site produced a ranking of the best Russian banks based on data for the 12 months starting from Q4 20141. The indicators for this period demonstrate “the capacity of financial institutions to operate in a challenging financial and economic environment and their ability to adapt quickly in a rapidly changing situation”.

In 2015 Center-invest Bank reduced its loan interest rates for agricultural companies. It has since seen its agribusiness loan portfolio reach RUB11bn. Russian companies that are producing alternatives to agricultural imports have received loans to finance the sowing season, other current needs, and investment projects.

An award ceremony was held on 19 November for the winners of a data analysis competition organised by Center-invest Bank. Specialists from universities throughout southern Russia were set the task of analysing the results of the “Me and the World in 2030” survey conducted by the bank earlier this year. The competition entries confirmed the key finding of the survey: young people in southern Russia see their future as “Love for Their Home Region + Global Competitiveness”.